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About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in jo... (More)

About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community. (Hide)

Fambrini's temporarily closes, to move next door

Uploaded: Apr 6, 2017

What seems to have been Palo Alto's only rooftop cafe has closed, albeit temporarily, with Fambrini's Terrace Cafe moving to a new location next door on El Camino Real.

The family-owned Fambrini's, long located on the second floor of a building at 2600 El Camino Real, closed on March 21 due to an impending redevelopment at the site, according to a post on the cafe's Facebook page. The six-story Brutalist building just north of Page Mill Road is set to be demolished and replaced with a four-story office building.

Fambrini's customers dine outside at the popular lunch spot, located on the second floor of a to-be-demolished building at 2600 El Camino Real. Photo by Veronica Weber/Palo Alto Weekly.

Fambrini's isn't going far, but it will no longer have a rooftop terrace for customers to enjoy the cafe's sandwiches and salads. The cafe will reopen in a ground-level space at 2500 El Camino Real in mid-June, per the Facebook post.

Nikolay Penchev, who co-owns the cafe with his wife Galia Raeva, said that the relocated Fambrini's will be the "same exact concept," although he hopes to add a few menu items and expand the cafe's hours. Eventually, Fambrini's will be open for a 12-hour day -- such as 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Penchev said -- and stay open on weekends.

And if your favorite part about Fambrini's was the outdoor dining, don't despair. The new space also has a large, ground-floor outdoor patio that can seat about 85 people, he said.

Patti Fambrini opened the El Camino Real cafe in the early 1990s after starting a local catering business. She sold Fambrini's to Penchev and Raeva seven years ago.

Posted by Can't wait,
a resident of Downtown North,
on Apr 7, 2017 at 1:30 pm

Can't wait for them to reopen! Easily the best sandwiches in Palo Alto - I love this place and Nick and Galia are such great hosts. A great menu and now a beautiful new setting - Looking forward to the reopening!

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